Skull Cowboy
by RayvenC
Summary: Find out my version of the origins of the character that never made it to the big screen
1. Death Of A Friend

The Crow: Skull Cowboy

(Please note, This entire story was based off my intrigue of the Supposed "Skull Cowboy" a character that was meant to appear in the crow, but never did, all similarities to those living or dead are purely coincidental, there may be similarities between my character and some of those in the original crow film, but those are meant as purely homage references I intend this to be the story of the first ever "Crow" and also sort of explain the origins of the nemesis of the crows, the snakes.)

Part 1: Prologue- Death of a Friend

The sun rises above a Churchyard and nearby an open grave are two men, one of them on the floor and the other standing over him menacingly.

"Hehe I'm gonna teach you a lesson cowpoke" a granite faced, sinister looking cowboy is stood above another person who seems to be about 65 years old and he is on the floor and looks pretty beat up. "Gonna teach you never to mess with Jake the Snake, Yeah I'm gonna teach you real good" he stretches his last word and then pulls out a switchblade knife.

"I think I'll give you a new smile, from here to here" he crouches down beside the old man then he motions with his free hand, starting off with his left ear his finger moves down his jaw along his neck and back up to his other ear.

The other person starts to slowly move and moan slightly "Waddaya want Jake I'll give you anything just leave me alone please" he says whimpering

"I told you before Murdoc you know what I want...I want your daughter you know I'll treat her well" this remark is accompanied by a sarcastic grin.

"NO NEVER! You're never getting' my Cassie... The only way your gonna get your filthy paws on her is over my dead body" he swallows loudly and starts to sweat slightly "That's the idea pops" Jake said sinisterly, grinning like a shark and then slashes at Murdoc's Chest. The blade slices through the air making a slight hissing sound the blade then hits him on his chest hard slicing it open spraying blood about and knocking Murdoc back. As his body hits the floor with a dull thud he lets out a gasp "You'll get your rightful rewards Jake I promise you that one day, just you wait" Jake starts to slightly laugh at this remark

"Who by pops, you?.. don't count on it" with that he gets up and pulls out his Smith & Wesson and shoots 4 slugs into Murdoc's chest and with that he walks of into the distance. In a darkened corner there is a boy of about 17 he is shaking because of either the cold, or the scene he has just witnessed. Shaking off all fear he runs over to Murdoc and kneels over his chest.

"Jimmy what you doing here my boy? I thought I told you to stay away from me" he grins shakily

"Listen now I want you to stay away from me for good ya hear cos it ain't gonna be no good for yer health you'd probably wind up getting yourself dead if your seen hanging with me, not that I'll be around for much longer anyways"

"C'mon Murdoc you can't just give up you can't let those bullies win...I need ya, the town needs ya and most of all Cassie needs ya. She needs ya the most so you just cant quit and die cos you know what will Jake do to Cassie if you die"

"Jimmy I'm gonna die I know it and you know it and I cant help that but there is one thing that you can do" he gasps, spitting up some blood he then reaches into his holster and pulls out his magnum

"What do you want me to do Murdoc you name it and I'll do it no matter what" he then glances down to Murdoc's magnum

"I want you to look after Cassie for me Jimmy you got that? Protect her with your life protect her from scum like Jake I know you can do that, and I'm giving you My Lucky Charm to help you" he then hands Jimmy his magnum "take care of her for me partner ok?" With that he lets out his final breath and his body then goes limp

"Yeah Murdoc I sure will not for me not even for Cassie but for you Murdoc the one who stands up to scumbags like Jake. I promise you this Murdoc that I'll be the one to kill Jake even if I have to go to Hell and back just to do it"

He hears a noise behind him and he whips round half-expecting Jake to be there but instead he sees a huge black Crow perched atop a gravestone its huge, deep, black eyes staring at him, watching him. Unknown to Jimmy those same deep black watchful eyes had watched the entire scene from start to finish.

"Dumb bird go on get on outta here" he turns back to Murdoc's still body and takes off Murdoc's holster and wraps it round his waist then twirls the gun on his finger and then kisses the barrel and then places it into the holster. He gets up and begins to walk to where Cassie Murdoc lives and where old man Murdoc lived wondering how to break the news to her. Even when he opens the door to go in the crow is still there watching his every move knowing that they will meet again.


	2. Dream The Crow Black Dream

Part 2:Dream the Crow Black Dream

(10 years later)

The sound of church bells fill the air and in the midst of the shower of paper confetti stand two figures, the newly wed Mr Jimmy Alvarez and Mrs Cassie Alvarez looking at each other and smiling they continue down the steps and toward the exit of the churchyard but then they both stop and walk over to a grave stopping at the one with the nameplate that has "MURDOC" engraved into it. Cassie places her wedding flowers at the base of the grave "I miss you dad I wish you could have been here to see this "Yeah he would have been real proud of his little girl!" came voice from behind them. Jimmy turns round and sees Jake standing behind them out of anger he swings his fist wildly at Jake who easily catches it "Now now Jimmy my boy I came here to pay my respects that's all so don't go makin' a song and dance about ok?" He says with a humorous tone in his last word he then tilts his hat and says "Good day to y'all Miss Murdoc...I mean Mrs Alvarez" with that he turns and walks out of the graveyard leaving Jimmy furious.

Jimmy wakes up, he is in a box of some kind with a padded interior he suddenly realises it is a coffin, he thinks it must be some kind of sick joke of Jake's. He pushes at the lid expecting it to come off, but it doesn't he finds himself having more strength than usual and as he pounds at the lid, it breaks and he finds himself digging himself out of the soil. After what seemed hours he manages to dig himself out and as he looks around he can see he is in a graveyard "What the...?" He stops as he notices a tombstone next to his, he ignores the black crow which is perched upon it, and reads the name which is clearly visible "CASSIE ALVAREZ" and he thinks out loud "Oh...No not Cassie!" He wakes up with a start and finds himself in his own room, in his own bed gasping for breath he looks to his right and finds Cassie sound asleep. Content that she is safe he gets up and walks to the nearest window, in the reflection of the window that he is dripping with Sweat and notices that there is a thunderstorm outside. Thunder cracks and Lightning flickers in the dark, Jimmy jumps as he feels an arm snake around his neck he spins round half expecting the arm to belong to Jake but, to his relief it belongs to Cassie. He holds her tight as if he hasn't seen her for a long while "I'm glad you're safe Cass...I thought I lost you"

"I'm guessing you had that dream again...am I right"

"Yeah you're right I wonder what it means though" he recalled that this was the 4th time he dreamed it in as many days. "I've told you Jim, it means absolutely nothing apart from you've got an active imagination" she had got sick of him thinking that his dream actually meant something because it really spooked her that he saw her name on a tombstone. "Maybe but I just cant shake off the feeling that something bad is going to happen" he suddenly realised that he had seen the crow that was on the tombstone that had Cassie's name on it.

"Cass you know that Black Crow I mentioned?"

"Yeah?"

"I've seen it somewhere before" he was desperately trying to think where he saw it

"And...where did you see it?"

"I saw the EXACT same crow the day that Jake killed your father" he swallowed with a loud gulp

"And?" she replies slightly uninterested but still spooked

"I thinks its tryin' to warn us that something bad is gonna happen"

"Of All the things you have said Jimmy Alvarez...that is the most ridiculous of them all, still...I'm starting to think something will happen" she then playfully slaps him on the chest "And its because of you, now come on and get back to bed" she walks into the bedroom "yeah I guess I'm over reacting I just can get the feeling outta my head that something bad will happen, it wouldn't be so bad if that dang bird didn't keep appearing" he murmurs to himself and then he walks to the bedroom to join his wife.


	3. Just Paint Your Face

Part 3: Just Paint Your Face

People once believed that when someone dies a crow carries that soul to the land of the dead. But sometimes something so bad happens that a terrible sadness is carried with it and the soul can't rest. And sometimes, just sometimes the crow can bring that soul back to put the wrong things right.

Jimmy wakes up, in a coffin he seem relaxed as he thinks he knows that it is just a dream, but what he doesn't realise is this is no dream, he WAS killed and something brought him back, maybe to serve a better purpose. He climbs out the coffin and walks to Cassie's Grave and says to himself "only a dream..." his voice trails off as he realises that it doesn't feel like a dream he looks down to his hand and sees that he cut it getting out of the coffin he says to himself "I can bleed in dreams? I ain't never done that before" his eyes go wide as he comes to a final realisation that it isn't a dream, he was killed, and so was Cassie he is almost sick then "oh my god... Cassie...no please...not my Cassie please...it cant be" he closes his eyes and tears fall, but the something inside him finds its place and he growls on the inside, it reverberates throughout is body coming out finally as a loud scream of rage his eyes roll and turn black still screaming he punches his own grave, and strangely makes the whole thing explode in a macabre act of defiance and says "Jake...I'm gonna pay you back for what you did to me, Cassie and her father just you wait, death is gonna come a callin' at your door" with that he gets up and walks into the night and as he does the black crow from his dreams lands on his shoulder and he says to it "Hello my friend we meet again, its been a while where should we begin?"

He sees something silver, reflecting the moonlight he kneels down and picks it up, it is Murdoc's Magnum and he gets a shock through his arm and it speeds up towards his skull hitting him like a Freight train and memories hammer his skull in an unspeakable pain, the memories are of that fateful night ten years ago.

He stands up, the memories fading away but not disappearing he looks down to the hand he cut getting out of the coffin and sees that it has healed up without even a scar, he then looks into the crows eyes and realises all of his new powers.


	4. Hangmans Joke

Part 4: Hangman's Joke

Rain lashes down on the gallows, a shady looking man is leaning against them smoking a cigarette, the full moon shines and an area where the man is looking is darkened by something and the shape grows smaller and takes form in the shape of a crow "what the fuck" the man says in a deep guttural voice. He walks over to the crow and takes a swing at it with his foot, he misses and staggers, slightly drunk a shadows figure looms from behind him and as a shadowy head reaches him, the lips just behind his ear there is just enough light to show enough of the face, Jimmy's face. The lips slowly open and say, "BOO!" the other man jumps almost out of his skin; turning round furiously he says, "Who the hell are you? Not that it matters you're a dead man" with that he draws his pistol and shoot twice, hitting Jimmy in the chest, the wounds heal up on their own and jimmy says "You're right, I am a dead man and your gonna be one too" an incredible amount of fear shows on the mans face, which doesn't look like it is used to being scared "wha..What did I ever do?"

Jimmy sneers slightly but it then turns into a malicious grin "James Smith, for the part you played in the death of Jimmy and Cassie Alvarez I sentence you to death, by the hand of the man you murdered"


End file.
